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Vol 11  Issue 546   July 12, 2007

PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402

Email: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net, Phone: 580-490-6823

Jill and I were out and about last Saturday and we were just a couple miles west of Saskawa, Oklahoma (that’s NE of Ada) and on the north side of Highway 56 was the Spring Baptist Indian Church. They had a real nice bell mounted in front of the church building so I took some pictures.

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And behind the church was a water well.  It has a plastic cover over the well opening to keep out trash and all.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/SpringBaptistWell7a.jpg

In each of the four corners of the church was a corner stone dedicated to some of the early founders and leaders of the church.

Church cornerstone: Rev John Jumper 1850-1894

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Church cornerstone: Rev John F Brown, Pastor 1894-1919

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Church cornerstone: Rev Lous Harjo Pastor, 1919-1937.

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Church cornerstone: Welsey Palmer, Pastor, 1937

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Welcome sign out found near the highway.

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My cousin Ivadee Murphree Vojtek who now lives in Eureka California was born in Sasakwa, Oklahoma. Here mother, Nida Fuller Murphree may be buried in the Sasakwa area, but I have not been able to find out exactly where yet.  We’ll have to make another trip to the area soon if weather permits and look for records, either in Ada or in Seminole, Oklahoma.  I would not be surprised if Nida Fuller attended Spring Baptist Church on the west side of Sasakwa. Here is a pic of Ivadee when she lived and worked at Ft Worth back in the 40s. Her mother Nida Fuller died when Ivadee was a very small girl, so not much is known about her mom.

https://oklahomahistory.net/carmon/ivadee1.jpg

Between Sasakwa and Ada is Francis, Oklahoma. I have several Murphree kinfolk buried at the Cedar Grove cemetery northeast of Francis.  Here is a couple of pics I took looking at downtown Francis, Oklahoma. Ain’t much left of Francis. The Country Cottage cafe and a few other buildings.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/francisokcafe.jpg

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The Francis, Oklahoma Cedar Grove Cemetery

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Another cemetery just a couple miles southeast of Francis, Oklahoma is the Denney cemetery. Its a lot smaller cemetery compared to the Cedar Grove northeast of Francis.

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The old McSwain theater is currently being remodeled in Ada

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While in Ada last Saturday Jill and I stopped at the Ada Public Library to look for genealogy info on my Murphree bunch who lived there years ago. We did find a couple of cemetery book indexes, but not much on my Murphrees. But when I turned to the “C”s something really grabbed my attention.  There listed was a “C. Carmon, Nov 10, 1907 – Feb 22, 1912”. I just feel this boy is kin to me.  My mind flashed back to the 1960s. A man by the name of Floyd “Hen Egg” Howell (1910-1982) lived 3 blocks east of me when I was a teen.  He told me something back then that no one in my family ever mentioned, nor did I ever bring it up. I won’t say what Floyd told me yet, but it was something about a mysterious death in Ada, Oklahoma involving one of my family members. If my gut feelings are right, this “C. Carmon” plays a part of the mystery. Hopefully real soon Jill and I can get up to Ada (and Seminole) to do research for the answers. If my hunch proves true, I’ll tell the story in a future T&T.

The “Somewhere in Time Antiques” store on Main Street Ada has a ton of things to browse…. we spent an hour or more two different times last Saturday looking. We found a great buy on a Pyrex 6 cup all glass coffee percolator for $15.  What a buy!  Now we have two. (These percolators are not made anymore.)

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Bob’s BBQ has been at the north edge of Ada since 1952 and they sure serve some great tasting bbq. Lots of meat for $3.99 a sandwich.

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Here’s a pic I snapped of Turner Falls this week.

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Roy Kendrick sent in an old postcard this week of Bickford Street in El Reno, Oklahoma.

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With all the photos being taken of Turner Falls the last few weeks, here is one took in March 1999 after a 5 inch rain.

https://oklahomahistory.net/turnerfalls/turner99.jpg

Bill Thomas sent in a old photo of the Rock Crusher near Dougherty, Oklahoma along the Washita River, taken about 100 years ago.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/RockCrusherCirca1910.jpg

Bill also rode the Heartland Flyer this week, and took a pic of the Washita River out of its banks in the same area where the above Rock Crusher was located.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/WashitaRiver070807.jpg

Dougherty, Oklahoma:  In southern Murray county. First known locally as Henderson Flat. Post office established September 3, 1887. Named for William Dougherty of Gainesville, Texas, a banker. -from ‘Oklahoma Place Names’ by George Shirk.

MAILBAG”Hi Butch, Dont’ forget the Lone Grove Days Parade this Fri. and Sat. July 13th and 14th. Our darling, Mary Wilson, is Grand Marshall in the Saturday morning parade which starts rolling at 10:00a.m.”  -mindy taylor


“Seems everybody is hitting the YouTube these days. I just had to share this with you. This is our Air Force Brat that was born at Memorial Hospital in Ardmore in 1956. Grew two years on good Oklahoma soil before the Air Force moved the family on. His grandparents were long time Ardmoreites Homer and Tressia McCabe.” -LaRita Reynes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtfEwKjKRIU


“hi butch, i need your help again trying to find out who the person is in this photo. we think the man in the picture is my  brother-in-law’s dad, but we’re not sure. if this is him his name was marshal farrell. maybe some of your readers might recognize the man in the  photo. we do know that he was related to the man who at one time ran the store in Healdton name taliaferro grocery. i believe his name was red farrell. thanks for all the help.” – betty daniels  sdaniels54@cox.net https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/MarshallFerrall.jpg


“I saw several pictures of Turner Falls after a lot of rain, where does the water to the falls originate?”https://oklahomahistory.net/turnerfalls/


“I have planted 12 hanging tomato plants but I am not getting much ripe fruit yet. The plants look great and have lots of green tomatoes. There are about 4 plants that have green fruit but the skin is wrinkled? Can anyone help?”  -Versailles, KY


“Cup of Joe:  Would you believe, although it is not a restaurant, you can get a very good cup of coffee at Eck Drug in Healdton for only 25 cents and refills are free. In fact the girls usually ask if you need a refill before you do.  Most folks take a warm up now and again.  Eck Drug in Waurika has the same price.”


“Boy is Lake Texoma up. Here are pictures of where we were camping this April.  Notice where the oil well is.”http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2211829890016106545XTarlFhttp://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1422866156016106545ZhzFyN Now here are almost all the same shots.  In the last one you can barely see the oil well!http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2411379600016106545RAduOghttp://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2948429220016106545rrQTtS Jayson Pruitt – Dallas, TX/Madill, OK
Oil & Gas Minerals
214-478-2649
JHP@airmail.net


“These are pretty neat – bring back some good memories, and to think what these terms mean today !!” -Tonya http://www.bentbay.dk/in_oldDays.html


“Berta, the widow of the late Don White, sent me a copy of your newsletter. I lived in Ardmore 1937 thru 1939, went to Ardmore Jr High and had many friends there, some later in service, now mostly gone – at least those I had been in touch by e-mail. Billy Bert Gilstrap, Don White and others. I have been in Houston for over 40 years but am moving to Denison, Tx., within the next three months and plan to visit Ardmore to see if any 1942 HS grads are left.”  -Dr. John Hobart Hill  hobe@juno.com


“Hi Butch, I look forward to your weekly bit of news and nostalgia. Thought I would share a few pics. Here are some pictures I took of the water flow from the floodgates behind the dam at Texoma on July 10, 2007. They were releasing about 30,000 CPS (cubic feet per second).  The average 3 bdrm household uses 3000 to 5000 gallons of water per month……..the above number equates to approximately 750 MILLION gallons per HOUR. That, my friend, is a lot of water under the bridge.”  -Gary Rainer, AHS Class of 1965https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/TexomaFlood071007a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/TexomaFlood071007b.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos7a/TexomaFlood071007c.jpg


Some very interesting information about Shay, Woodville, Madill and the Indian Territory.  Also note the information on Arkansas as being part of Oklahoma in the early days?  Just for information for now in case some of you come up with something I missed.  http://www.rootsweb.com/~okmarsha/history.html

This one is for the Madill & Marshall County Library records.  http://www.rootsweb.com/~okmarsha/library.htmlA lot of reading and nothing new but thought some of you may want to read it?  http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oktoday/1970s/1975/oktdv25n3.pdf

Calville and Isaac Pennington showed up in this one as Indian Traders? 6Isaac Pennington, an Indian trader who had been associated with Colonel Chouteau and Hugh Glenn on the Verdigris. Again a lot of reading?  http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v014/v014p393.htmlWilliam D. Pennington shows up here.  http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/contents/v057toc.html

First Post Offices in Oklahoma http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v026/v026p179.pdf-Submitted by Mike Pennington   azfop5@msn.com


The Wilson News 2-11-1915:  The city marshal is now after the dog tax. Its money to marbles that there are a lot of ownerless dogs in this town just at this time.

2-18-1915: February is a great month in history. Think of all the anniversaries that fall in this month. Washington’s birthday, Lincoln’s birthday, St. Valentine’s day, ground hog day, and now it seems destined to mark the day Tom Griffin killed the dogs at Wilson.

2-18-1915: “Slaughter Of The Innocents” – City Marshall, Tom Griffin, says that next Tuesday he will begin the extermination of the unlicensed canines of Wilson. Tom is going to have his hands full, it appears, for up to date less than thirty licenses have been taken and there must be about 300 dogs here. Then after the marshal gets through his part of the job, there will be some work for someone to clean up after Tom.
 -Submitted by Mindy Taylor  mindy@brightok.net  Include a visit to the Wilson Historical Museum in your reunion plans. Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat., 10:00a.m. – 4:00 p.m.


“Golly Butch, No-one (including me) has mentioned the time that Danny Hodge was almost drowned in a car wreck!  Several years ago Danny walked into my shop wearing a neck brace and I asked him what had happened?  Keep in mind that Dan has been known as one of the strongest men in wrestling and the one with the strongest grip anywhere.  You wouldn’t know it when you shake his hand though because it’s one of the limpest hand shakes you’ll ever feel……….he doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and yes, I’ve seen him break the pliers with one hand and I’ve seen him crush apples with one hand (not just soft apples either, he wants the firm barely ripe ones to demonstrate with).  Incidentally he told me that he doesn’t break pliers anymore since the cheap foreign products break too easily and he got too many splinters.  Now back to the car wreck where he almost drowned.  Danny said that he was driving along a Louisiana highway late one evening and was so tired that he dozed off just enough to lose control of the steering wheel and drove off into a bayou and broke his neck in the process.  He had to crawl out a window (under water) holding his head up with one hand and using the other to get to the surface.  Then, while still holding his head with the one hand, so that he could still breathe, he had to struggle with the other to find a place where he could climb up out of the water.  I don’t remember him saying what part of Louisiana he was in at the time but I can remember driving many miles on an elevated highway when all you could see for many miles was the bayou on both sides dotted with some trees that had the Spanish moss hanging from them.  Dan wore that neck brace for a long time but eventually he wrestled again.  Then his doctor told him to stop because that neck injury could kill him if he hurt it again.  Danny still attends most of our local highschool wrestling matches, encouraging the kids to do their best.  He and his family are members of the First Baptist Church here and his wife and daughter still work for the Exchange Bank (the bank next door to my shop).”  -Roy Kendrick http://www.midsouthwrestling.com/photos-then.html


“Butch, Thoughts your readers might be interested in this about Bromide, Oklahoma.” -Jimmie Martin http://bromideoklahoma.blogspot.com


Elvis sings, “America America, God Shed His Grace on Thee” http://home.comcast.net/~nw-fla/tribute_flag_B_thompson.htm


“There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won’t anymore, and who always will. So don’t stress about people from your past… there’s a reason why they didn’t make it to your future” -unknown

See everyone next week!

Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
https://oklahomahistory.net

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